Bericoto's 445-Foot Bomb Ends It in the Ninth for SF

Victor Bericoto crushed a 445-foot home run to center in the ninth inning, swinging San Francisco's win probability from 54% to 100% and delivering a 2-1 walk-off win over the Athletics. The entire game was decided by three solo home runs — all of them hit to center field.

For eight innings, this game belonged to the pitchers. Gage Jump gave the Athletics five innings of three-hit, zero-earned-run ball with nine strikeouts, and Tyler Mahle matched him with 5.2 innings of two-hit, zero-earned-run pitching for San Francisco. The offense was locked out on both sides, and it looked like whoever blinked first would lose. Max Muncy made sure the Athletics blinked last — until they didn't. In the eighth, Muncy homered to center at 416 feet to put Oakland up 1-0, and the Athletics' bullpen took over with a one-run lead to protect.

The ninth is where everything unraveled for the visitors. Rafael Devers — who has been in the news cycle this week for an incident involving a pinch runner in a prior game — answered Muncy's shot with a 416-foot home run of his own to center, knotting the game at 1-1. That alone would have been a compelling story given the noise surrounding Devers lately. But Bericoto wasn't done. Two batters later, he launched a 445-foot missile to center — longer, louder, and more decisive — to end it. San Francisco wins, 2-1.

The story of the night was how thoroughly the pitching dominated until the very last moment, and then how completely the bats took over in a single inning. Hogan Harris and Luis Medina combined for two scoreless innings out of the Athletics' bullpen — Harris with two strikeouts in one inning, Medina with two strikeouts and two walks in his — but it wasn't enough. Bericoto finished 2-for-4 with the decisive blow. Jung Hoo Lee also went 2-for-4 for San Francisco, though he didn't figure into the scoring. This looks like a game that will sting the Athletics for a while: their starter was brilliant, their bullpen was clean, and they still lost on a walk-off because a 445-foot home run doesn't care about any of that.